Does "obsessive-complusive" have a hyphen in it? I simply MUST know!

I awoke this morning to a universe turned upside-down. Or, rather, shifted annoyingly to the right:



Get out of there, cat, ummm, web address.  You do not belong on the far right side of the address bar. You've NEVER been on the far right side of the address bar!

It's one of those changes that annoys me a little but also worries me. I know that Firefox is trying to push their 4.0 version on everyone, even though I don't like it, I don't know anyone who does like it, and I've gotten several messages from courts that send me their .pdf filings through it which say they don't like it. When my freakin' ballscore page has a snarky reminder to "Upgrade to Firefox 4" at the top, you KNOW they're getting serious about wanting to force this switch.

Was there maybe a little Gaslight-ing going on here to make the 3.6.whatever version seem a little less friendly?  I wouldn't put it past them, but I've received no updates to the current version recently. I hadn't even closed and restarted the damn thing.  Okay, then, did I download some nasty that is messing with the browser? THAT makes me worry.

Fortunately, just about all problems in life- even problems with browsers- can be solved with browsers. A search on "firefox address bar align right" led, 0.31 seconds later, to a forum that revealed there's a built-in hot key to change the URL alignment, which I, or perhaps a four-legged family member, must have accidentally tweaked. (It's shift-ctrl-x, if you're keeping score at home.) I untweaked it- and once again, my addresses are safely anchored back where they belong.

Except for anything from "dumb shit Sarah Palin made up today." THOSE still appear way over on the right.

Uppity dates

* My 50-word story from a few weeks back?   Got an honorable mention. No prizes, but that's okay, because it's an exhibition, not a competition, and I did no wagering.

* I've been asked to lead the service in our own church on the last Sunday in July. I am mindful of the texts about preachers not being welcomed in their own home towns.

* The jerry-rigging of the weedwhacker seems to have worked; it cleared the compost heap, the back berms, the whole stretch between our yard and Sally's and then our entire fencing from there to the opposite corner, and we've still got plenty of line.  On the other hand, our kitchen mop just broke in half after probably close to a decade; I whistled "Taps" for it, although "Mops" would have been more appropriate if there actually were such a song.

* Eleanor defoliated most of the victory garden today, which I then busted down and assembled into five garbage cans and two temporary staging areas. I did so to the sounds of a couple of recent Fresh Air podcasts; one I'd heard a bit of during the week, her piece with Keith Olbermann right before his return to the air tomorrow night (on Current, which we can but don't currently get); the other, an interview with the author of a fascinating just-out-in-paperback book about the rise and fall of Prohibition in this nation in the early 20th century. The parallels to some of the social conservative trends of today were striking, and the author holds up the eventual repeal of the whole business as a hopeful sign that, even if Teabaggers get their way, it's not likely to last for long once the now-silent majority rises up against them once they actually start imposing their regime.

* I totally messed up and thought today was Father's Day, so I've a card from Emily on my desk and a yummy shrimp-in-bacon dinner awaiting. Plus wine, long as the prohibitionists don't get here between now and 7.